Three Bars
by Equines are my life
Summary: Summary up. Its kind of a fanfic off of not only the books we've read, but also what i think will happen in the one that is coming out, and the summarys of the ones in france. Please read! AmyTy It might be moved up to T but for should stay at k.
1. Summary

AN: Some reference to this story: it takes place around her 3rd year in collage. It goes by what i believe happened in the new book and the books that have come out in France, but is not meant to be the new book.

Summary: Ty broke up with Amy during the spring break of her freshman year, for reasons Amy doesn't know. Since then Amy has started to date Ted, one of her classmates who is also a pre-vet student and in-line to inherit his families Colorado AQHA and APHA ranch, HRJ Performance Horses. Now it is nearing the summer of her junior year. She's starting to question whether she's being fair to Ted. She's knows she's not over Ty, and anybody who know her can tell that by the ring on her right hand. Ted doesn't know what the ring means, and, when she goes back to Heartland, she avoids Ty as much as possible, so she hasn't been questioned about it yet. She is boarding Sunny and Spindle at a stable near the collage so that she can work with them "without the drive" and occasionally will take another rescue horse to work with.

Ted has asked her to come to his ranch for the summer, but so has her grandpa. He and the rest of her family miss her. She is torn. The answer to her prayers comes in a phone call. Three Bars Ranch wants her to come for a month and a half, to teach them and there staff Heartland's techniques. They are a new horse ranch that buys cheap and average horses and makes them into something. This sound like the perfect escape. One week home, half a week and HRJ, a month and a half at Three Bars, and the last three weeks back at Heartland. Perfect.

AN: Just some more background, she didn't entirely withdraw herself from Heartland. She does the website and comes home, just stays away and doesn't talk to Ty. When they have to talk she keeps it withdrawn, formal, and business. I'm warning you ahead of time, my writing skills have something to be desired.


	2. Pizza

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! And thanks to... ok i don't know how to spell your name on her without looking it up, but you know who you are, for checking over this chapter for me. Also, are you on horsecity, cause there was a post by someone named Autumnoocolors who made a post about being excited about the eagles game and she was also from PA?then there was a jockeysomethig person? REVIEW!!!!

Amy Fleming walked out of her dorm to her pick-up. She was going to meet Ted at the pizza parlor. He had called her before her last class to set up the date.

As she pulled into the pizza parlor she thought about Ty again. He wasn't all she thought about or anything... at least not anymore. It's just at certain moment and certain places that triggered the emotions. And now, he came flooding back to her. It something that always bothered her. She knew that she loved him, not dating three months love, but real love. The kind where you know you can't live without that person, where their pain hurts you more than your own. And, with that being true, how could she be with Ted. She always thought that once you have those feelings for someone they never go away. So wouldn't that be unfair to Ted? She's never _stopped _being in love with Ty.

The other thing that bothered her was how she got to where she was. She knew that Ty felt the same way about her. So how could he just stand there and tell her what he had. How could he see the pain in her face, without taking it back. What reason did he have. He wouldn't tell her. He just said, "I have to do this."

If Ty would want her back, who would she chose? Well that was easy. Her relationship with Ty was much stronger than she could ever imagine happening with her and Ted. She didn't even know if she wantedto be with Ted.

So, once again she worried that it wasn't fair to Ted.

She got out of the car and walked to the door. Once in side, she scanned the crowd for his face. She saw him siting at a table near the back corner looking at her. He smiled. She smiled back and walked towards him, feeling nervous as she still doubted what she was doing. When she reached the table he stood and kissed her on the cheek.

"Why, hello Ms. Fleming. May I just tell you how ravishing you look tonight." She blushed lightly, despite herself. She wasn't quite sure what accent he was trying to imitate but smiled none the less. She hopped he was joking for everyone's sake. "So have you decided yet whether you are going to come this summer?" He had wanted her to come to his family's ranch in Colorado, HRJ Performance Horses, for the summer.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I got a phone call today. You know how last year on spring break I went to Argentina to help that horse?"

"Your not going back there now are you?" There was a hint of agitation in his voice.

"No. Now just listen. There's this ranch in Arkansas, Three Bars Ranch. They just started up. They buy horses for cheap, horses that people don't want and make them into something. They want me to come out and teach them Heartland's techniques! It would only be for half the summer. I could spend the rest of the time at your place and Heartland. And it's not like you can't come and see me there, or i can't leave for the weekend once or twice."

"Amy that's half the summer! You've always come for a week or so. I wanted this year to be different. Wait you already told them yes, didn't you. I can tell by that look on your face."

"Yeah. But, its not your decision, its mine. This is my life."

"I know. Its fine. Lets just enjoy our meal, ok."

"Grandpa?"

"Amy, is that you? I was just going to call you earlier today, but then Sugarfoot got out from under the fence and nobody could get him."

"Thats funny! Wasn't Lou there?" Amy smiled and laughed at the image in her head.

"No she had to go to a doctor's appointment."

"Oh, then i can see that posing as a problem!", she joked, enjoying the opportunity to be completely carefree.

"Of course." She could almost see the corner of his eyes crinkling, even though they were on the phone.

"You'll never guess what happened today. Some ranch in Arkansas, Three Bars Ranch, called and said they want me to come teach them our techniques. So, that helped me plan out my schedule for the summer." He had never asked her about how much time she was coming home for, but she could tell it was on his mind. So, as soon as she got home from dinner, she called him. "I'm going to spend the first week at Heartland with you guys and I'm going to bring Spindle and Sunny home. I'm not quite sure whether I'm going to bring them with me all summer or just leave them there at Heartland yet. But, anyways, then I'm going to HRJ for 4 days, then Three Bars for a month and a half, and then back there for the last 3 weeks."

"That's great! I feel a lot better about you going there than Argentina like last time! But I'm sure your going to do just great. Have you finished the last journal? If so then you can give them a copy for reference." Amy had been typing up all of her mother's notebooks, so that they could keep the original copies some place safer and maybe even some day publish them.

"Almost, I just have about five more pages. I can't wait till it's all done!", Amy said, her voice brimming with excitement over the possibilities the book brought.

Back at Heartland

Ty had just finished feeding all the horses. He walked down the stall row, checking over each stall and horse for any problems. All the horses were safe and settled and he continued up to the house. As, he walked into the kitchen door, he heard Jack, in the living room, talking to Lou and Joni.

"Amy's going to be here next week." He listened as Jack went on about her plans for the summer. Ty face hardened as he listened through the door. When Jack got to the part about Three Bars, he clenched his lips, but there was an unmistakable sparkle in his eye. "_Good for her",_ he thought.

AN: Review away!


	3. Homecoming

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! And no, you are nowhere close to why he broke up with her. Think about Ty's attitude in the last book and its not because he cant deal with the fact that she left. Its much more in-depth than that. There will be a big hint in this chapter. And, she didn't go to dinner with Ty, she went with Ted, her new boyfriend. Read and REVIEW. Seriously Im only getting like 3 a chapter. Don't care if your not a member just review!!!!!

Amy pulled into the drive of the stable where she kept Sunny and Spindle. She didn't necessarily hate the place, but she liked having them at home much better. She got along with the barn owner really well. It was probably those families that reminded her of the Grants. The ones that have never touched a fork or curry comb. The ones who tie, no wait-have there trainer or one of the grooms, tie there horses heads to there leg when they do something wrong. Before she came here, she couldn't remember the last time she had a ten year old girl told her that she didn't know what she was doing.

She opened up the car door and pulled on her old, worn-in boots and zipped up her green suede half-chaps. As she got out of the car, she scanned the field for the buckskin and bay. They weren't there so she walked to the stalls. There was three barns, one for borders, one for the schooling horses and ponies, and one for the trainers, workers, and barn owners. The border barn was newly redone, with brand new mesh stalls, stone paved isles, and a heated indoor wash rack. When she got to the door she slid on there halters and walked them to the cross ties. The cross ties were in the same room as the tack for convenience, in the middle of the room in a circle so the horses could see each other.

As she hooked them up to the cross ties, she saw the girl that reminded her of Ashley Grant, only worse. She was here for her daily lesson, wearing a pair of white breaches and a pale blue blouse. She was about fourteen. She was telling the groom how to properly brush her horse, a 16.2 hand bay Dutch Warmblood Gelding. Apparently he forgot to give him his pre-lesson bath. The groom went on to try to explain to her that bathing a horse multiple times a week will damage there skin and hair. It didn't work though. So reluctantly he walked away down to the wash racks.

Amy went to the trunks to collect the horses' shipping boots. Spindle was no longer a yearling, but now was 5. He was 15.2 hands of gorgeous Arabian. She had been working on ground work for the last 4 years. She decided to wait until he was 4 ½. to ride him. Now she could get him to do almost anything on the flat under saddle both english and western, for versatility. Now she had to decide which way to take him.

She fastened on the boots and went to pull up the 2-horse she was renting for the summer. She loaded them in, grabbed the tack, and was on her way home.

Amy pulled up the driveway to Heartland two hours later. Not much had changed around there. The had rebuilt the old stalls for an open house a year ago, bought stall mats, and new buckets and such. But it still looked like home. As she backed up to the barn, she saw grandpa walk out of the farm house. He had aged a little, but was still going strong. He was followed by a not so tiny Lou. The doctor had determined at her last anointment that they were having another boy.

She greeted and hugged everyone. Joni came as she started to unload. "We set up there old stalls, when we heard you were coming home. Have you decided whether your going to take them on your journey?"

"Well, I think it would be a good experience for Spindle and I can't leave Sunny here if I'm taking Spindle, so I guess I'm taking them. The guy at Three Bars said they would set aside two stalls for me and if I didn't bring them then he would fill them."

"Oh, ok. Wow! He's gotten to be quite the big guy hasn't he!" Joni cried out as Spindle was led out.

"You saw him at spring break! He isn't even growing anymore." Amy laughed.

"Well he must be standing differently cause he's a beauty. He looks so mature."

"Yeah, don't you just hate it when they do that! I want him to go back to his cute old self. Although I doubt that Sunny has been having the best influence on him." The girls continued to walk the horses into the barn and get them settled. They walked out of the stalls just as Ty started around the corner caring a saddle. Amy frozen in her tracks, but only for a second. She made herself turn around and slide the bolt. When she turned back around, Ty was staring at her. More specifically, her hand, the ring he had given her. This had happened a few times before, and every time she went on as if nothing happened. And she did just that. She picked up the boots of the ground and walked of to the tack room.

At dinner, they talked about collage and Three Bars. "So, have you learned anything new about this ranch?" Lou asked.

"Not really. I checked there website, but it didn't have much. I guess I'll just have to find out when I get there."

"You'll have to call us everyday to give us the details. You're so lucky you get to go do this!", said Joni.

"I will and the only reason I get these calls is because of my dad. He keeps throwing my name out to all of his clients. I guess this place got funding from the Argentina place my dad sold to."

"Speaking of your dad, he sent you a package in the mail." Jack said. Getting up from his seat.

"I'll get it grandpa, sit back down! Were is it at?" Amy didn't want him to lift the box if its anything like the last one she got from him. She found it by the office desk, with a letter on top. She sat down and read the letter out loud. " Dear Amy, I figured since your heading out to this ranch, you could use some new stuff. I know you've got all the English stuff you need, but out there they ride western quite a bit. Call me while your there. Love, Dad, Helena, and Lilly." She reached down to open the box. It contained a pair of show chaps, work chaps, 3 button down shirts, a cowboy hat, a pair of red Ariat boots, spurs, and a fancy show shirt. "I wish he wouldn't always send me this stuff. Especially the show stuff. I have some western show clothes in my room. Although, I doubt they'll fit anymore. But I'm not even showing out there. I'm teaching mom's techniques. Oh well. I guess I could use them eventually."

"Just be sure to call and tell him thank you.", said Lou.

"I know I'm not 5 anymore."

"Yeah I know. It must be my parental skills taking over."

The next morning, Amy got up in here old bedroom. She smiled, got up, and dressed. She ran outside to start the morning feeds. She walked up and down stall row collecting the hay nets. She turned into the feed room and stopped. Ty was filling the feed buckets. _Just keep walking, you don't have to talk to him or anything. _So she walked over to the hay and started filling. It was painfully quiet for the first 5 minutes, and she wanted to keep it that way. But then, he broke the silence.

"Weren't you the one that didn't want us to get together because you were afraid of it ruining our friendship."

"Yep."

"Well then why aren't you talking to me, it's been 2 and ½ years. Why aren't you over it?", he said in a quiet voice.

"Maybe I'd be able to get over it if I knew why we broke up in the first place."

"I can't."

"Why not. All I want is a simple answer."

"You wouldn't understand, and besides if i told you it would ruin the whole purpose of me doing it."

"Ty, everything that was important to you was important to me. I don't get it."

"Not this. This is the one thing that you wouldn't understand. You would tell me it was stupid and didn't matter. And if it was the other way around, I would say the same thing."

"What is this some kind of puzzle?"

"Trust me it's important. I can already tell that."

"Huh? You don't make any sense!", Amy exclaimed, and walked away.

AN: Sorry, its not the best. I didn't read over it cause i just wanted to get this up.


	4. Flashback

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! I thought it was really obvious why he might have broke up with her in the last chapter, but I guess not. Don't worry though it's a good reason and this story is Amy/Ty. This chapter might confuse you though. I could use some critique, so if you can think of anything I can do to make this story better, tell me. This is going to be a flashback chapter to when they broke up. Then it is two chapters including this one till Ted and Amy break up. Here you go.

_**FLASHBACK**_

Amy was dying to get home. She hadn't been home for two weeks due to mid-term exams. She missed everyone so much, especially Ty. They talked on the phone everyday to catch up, but it still wasn't the same. But she would have spring break home, and then she would only have four and a half weeks of school, home on weekends.

She pulled up in the driveway and grandpa came out of the house like always. "Hey grandpa!", Amy said, giving him a hug.

"Ty just went back into the barn, he's been out here every five minutes for the last two hours looking for you! Why don't you go find him, I'll get your bags."

"I'll go, but if you touch my bags I might have to kill you. Know go inside and relax, these are your retirement years."

"Oh ok, I'll head in in a bit then."

"Now!"

"Who's the adult her now?"

"We both are."

"Yeah, I'd been trying to forget."

Amy gave up and headed into the barn. Slowly, she walked down the towards the open stall door with the wheelbarrow parked in front. She peeked around the corner, and he was facing the other way. She crept up behind him and quickly covered his eyes with her hands. He didn't even jump. He grabbed her hands and turned around smiling. He placed her hands on his shoulders and placed his on her thin waist. "I missed you."

"Me too." she whispered, as he bent down to slowly kiss her. When he finally finished, he leaned his forehead on hers.

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."

"I'll love you forever, remember that. Okay."

"Right back at ya, and I will." He held her there for a little while longer, before heading out to help her with her bags that were, not so surprisingly, already in her room.

Later that night at dinner, like always, everyone asked Amy about collage and how things were going. And like always she said it was great. "Now, more importantly, what's new here?" Joni gave her a quick update on everything Ty didn't already tell her. However, this time Ty didn't say much. He was preoccupied with his thoughts. This idea had been in his head for a while now, and he knew what he had to do, but he didn't know if he was strong enough to do it. He knew it would be hard, but it was something that he had to do.

The days flew by far to quickly for either of there liking. They tried to spend as much time with each other as possible, to enjoy the time that they had. And Ty tried to tell her how much he loved her and how crazy he was about her at any moment he possibly could.

"Amy, could we talk real quick before you have to go back tomorrow?", Ty said on her last night.

"Oh corse." He led her to the tack room. She walked closer to him and slid his arms around his neck. They kissed for a while, before Ty pulled back.

"Now I need to say something. I don't really know where to start." She started to get a little bit worried from the stress that was so obvious on his face. "I guess I should just go out and say it. I think we need to spend some time apart."

Amy face went from worried to confused to pain-stricken in the moment the words left his mouth. "What? I don't understand. Why? What did I do?" Tears started to stream down her face.

"I just think it would be for the best. That's all I can say." He could barely force the words out of his mouth and the moment they left he wanted to take them all back. To hold her until she stopped crying. But he couldn't.

She step closer to him and tried to kiss him and fix whatever she had done.

But, he just grabbed her arms and set them back by her sides as carfuly as he could. "How is this even possible? Just earlier this morning you were telling me that you couldn't live without me, that my happiness meant more to you then anything else!" She screamed at him hoping that it would make him cave or at least hurt the same way she was. "You don't do this to the people you love. Can't you just tell me why. Please?" Now she was talking in a lower voice, begging him.

"I can't.", he said and walked away.

AN: Not the best because its kind of choppy, but I wanted to get two up this weekend cause I might not be able to next weekend. But if we get the weather were supposed to get tomorrow night, I might get another one up.


	5. Fight

AN: This chapter is kind of messy. I was planning on Ted picking her up, but then I remembered that she would need her truck later. So, lets just pretend its being shipped to her because it was being fixed. Thanks for all the reviews!

Amy went through the next week as she had for the last three years. When the last day came, Ted was supposed to come with a trailer to take her and the horses back to his ranch. He had only been to Heartland once before due to the whole Ty working there thing. He was to come in the morning, hang out for the day, and then they would load up and head out.

When she woke-up early that morning, she looked put the window. She was happy with what she saw. All of the horses were peacefully grazing in the field. And there were no cars in the driveway besides grandpa's. She looked at the clock; it was four o'clock. Oh well, she could just sleep on the way there in the extended cab of his truck. She pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of her old, worn-in jeans. She walked down stairs to the kitchen, and grabbed a muffin and a cup of coffee. The she went out to the barn. She had become quite quick at cleaning stalls. She finished the first stable in a half and hour, and the second in twenty-five minutes. She brought in all the horses and had them fed by five thirty. She still had till seven.

She took Spindle out of his stall. She led him over to the tack room and dropped the lead. A lot of the people didn't like that she did this with him. But, it was part of his training. She told him to stay, and went in for the tack. Her arms were full so she throw the lead over his back and clicked at him to follow her. When they reached the round pen, she dropped the tack outside the gate and removed the lead. she let him stretch his legs while she set up a jump. Then she sent him out around the ring. She had done everything first with ground driving, then with lunging, and last at liberty. He went over the jump with inches to spare. After raising it a few times, she got rid of the jump. She grabbed a whip and had him do parallels and figure eights. With his Arabian blood, he could go on like this for hours without breaking a sweat. Then she tacked him up. This time she decided on western. Once he was tacked up, she tied the reins to the saddle and sent him around a few laps at a jog. Then, she slowly got on and off. She did this on both sides, purposely bumping him with her foot. Then she rode off. Since she had waited until six months ago to ride him, she could spend more time exposing him to things. He had been saddled many times before he turned four. Now the five year old was built and sturdy. She started at a walk for the first five minutes, working him in circles and figure eights. Then she put him through a jog and a lope. It was about and hour into his lesson. She dismounted and retied the reins, so he would not trip over them. She went out of the pen and set up some barrels, a bridge, and a few other obstacles she imagined up. She ran him through the barrels and the other obstacles flawlessly. Then she rode him to the other side of the property, the side with the cows. Effortlessly, they jumped the low cow wire. She had him separate a calf and then went back to the barn. She had previously asked the owner for permission.

When she got back to the barn, Ty and Joni had just arrived. "Hey, Amy, what's left to do? Wow! He's doing really good, would you mind letting me take him out for a whirl later today before you leave?" Joni asked.

"Of course. I did the stalls and the feed all you guys have to do is work them. Im going to take Toby and Zimbo this morning."

"What time did you get up?" She asked in disbelief.

"It's none of your business. Now, I'm going to take him back and get to work. Tell me if you see Ted pull up. He has a blue truck." Amy joked. Before walking off.

"Oh, yeah I forgot he was coming. This ought to be interesting to see how much Mr. Handsome has changed." Joni said in her usual happy tone. She was more than pleased with his appearance during his last visit.

"Yeah", Ty said sarcastically. "I can't wait. I think we should throw him a party. I'll go get the balloons, if you get the streamers. Oh, and I forgot to get him a present too!"

"Cool down there. It will be fine. Just keep your cool. They wont work out and you know it. He's going to inherit his ranch way out in Colorado and Amy won't leave her life here."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I have to get along with him."

Ted pulled up an hour later. He was wearing a his ranch clothes; a solid blue button down shirt, a pair of Wranglers, a big belt buckle, and a pair of black cowboy boots. Joni, being the "friendly" person she was went to his truck to say hello. "Do you know where Amy is?", he asked.

"She's back working with one the horses. I'll take you back there if you want.", she said sounding a little to eager.

"Thanks." When they reached the round pen, Amy was exercising one of the rescues. Duke was a 14.1 hand 16 year old Haflinger gelding whose owner had been unable to take care of him. Ty had found him on the way to the feed store in the middle of the road. Upon further inspection, he found a nearby overgrown pasture with a break in the fence. The horse was covered with mud and burs, but the only physical damage was his untrimmed hooves and he needed de-wormed. The only work that had to be done was to bring him back into shape so they could sell him for more.

He was lazily walking around at the rail, while Amy did everything in her power to get him to trot. Finally, she ever so slightly slung the rope at the end of the lunge whip towards him, sending him into a trot. If he was going to be used again he would have to listen to his handler. When she saw Ted and Amy approach, she called him to a halt, and he slowly walked into her, hoping that she would give in to his act of affection. She walked to the rail to say hello.

When she was done with Duke, the two of them walked back to his stall. When they reached it she walked in and slipped of the halter. Then she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist. "Hey" she said.

"What.", said Ted trying to act innocent. Then he bent down to kiss her neck.

"Stop.", Amy said shrugging him away.

"What, we've been dating forever."

"If I don't want to do something then I'm not going to do it.", She said before walking away.

After dinner Amy went upstairs to finish packing. Ted decided to go outside and help with the feeds. Fate would have it that Ty was already in the feed room. Ted didn't care though. He just strolled in and asked what he could do. Ty tried his hardest to avoid throwing up. "Here's the feed chart. I've already done these ones."

"Cool." He grabbed a bucket and started to work on filling it up. "I just don't understand why you broke up with Amy. She's perfect. I almost think I could really settle down with her, if only she were willing to do a little more. Maybe once I get her out at the ranch she might loosen up a bit."

That hit Ty's last straw. He turned around and punched him in the face. Just at that moment Amy walked into the barn. "Ty what are you doing!" Ted got up and went back at Ty. Amy stood in the doorway in shook for a moment. Then she went in to try and pull them apart. Ted payed little or no attention to her, and when Ty stopped at Amy's request, took advantage of the opportunity and dug his fist into Ty's stomach. Ty quickly recovered and gave Ted one final last punch which sent him to the ground again.

"Amy said to stop." Ty said, before walking out with some of the buckets.

AN: I got a little carried away with the Spindle thing, it was 2/3 of the story. But don't flame me for the whip thing. Lightly tapping a horse on the back with the rope of a lunge whip won't hurt the horse in anyway. Review!


	6. The Ranch

AN: Finally spring break! This probably wont be my best chapter. I didn't really want to write this chapter and wanted to skip to the next few, but it had to be written so here it is. I hoping to get another one out before i have to go back to school. Review away!

The next day, Amy woke up in the back seat of Ted's truck. She vaguely remembered crawling back there around 11 o'clock and searching under the seat for a blanket to use as a pillow. Now she felt the rumble of the car over the interstate and could lightly hear the music from his ipod that he had plugged into the car. She sat up and looked out the window to see where they were at. _Well, whoever said you can't see America from the highway sure was right. _She thought as she realized that the scenery had hardly changed from West Virginia last night, even though they were in Missouri. Just then, Ted turned around from hearing her sit up. "Finally decided to join the waking world?", he asked jokingly with his huge smile spread across his face. It was impossible to say that he wasn't extremely good looking. He had short dark hair that was typical of a rancher, dark brown eyes, tanned skin, a strong face, get the picture. And it also helped that he was extremely strong, and it was just as extremely hard not to notice. Everything about him made a girl consider moving out west, in hopes that all of the guys out there looked like he did.

Later that day, a lot later, around 11:30 at night, they finally reached the Colorado border. "How much farther is it from here", Amy asked. She had recently taken over driving, for fear that he would fall asleep at any moment.

"Its only 10 more exits, then another hour or so south." He reached under his seat to find a map to show her with. "Here, you get off there, then you go down here. I'll just tell you from there."

By 1:27 they pulled into his driveway. She wished it was morning so that she could see the place, but she would just have to wait. He told her which way to go to get to the barn. She backed up to the barn, and got out. She unlatched the trailer doors while he turned on the lights. She grabbed a lead from the back tack compartment and led sunny out of the slant load first. Everything about the barn was sleek and clean. There was 10 stalls on each side of the walkway. Each stall had a hook for a halter. The floor was paved with brick-like stones. At the other end of the barn was the tack room, feed room, some cross ties, and a wash rack.

"What stall do you want me to put him in?", she asked him.

"I left two empty stalls on the right side, you can put them in there. I put some hay in them for you."

"Thanks."

When the horses were settled he grabbed her bags and walked her up to the house. It was basically your typical ranch house. Everything was up-to-date, and there was western cowboy decor everywhere. He hung his keys on the wall and placed her bags by the stairs.

"You want something to eat?", he asked.

"Sure. What do you have?" she asked as she came up behind him. He was fishing around through the cupboards.

"Here's some popcorn and cookies. And i think there might be some ice cream in the freezer."

"Yum. Nothing like a 600 calorie midnight snack!", Amy wasn't one of those people who watched what they ate, but she didn't need to either.

They got the food and curled up on the couch to eat. When they were done he showed her to here room and they went to bed.

She didn't wake up that morning until 9:30. Then she got dressed and went downstairs. From there he took her outside to meet the horses and take a look around. There was a 3 roundpens, and indoor arena, the barn from last night, a stallion barn, a hot walker, and a lot of pasture.

"How many horses do you have here?", she asked in amazement.

"We have 3 stallions, 15 broodmares, 10 geldings, 6 weanlings, 7 yearlings, and

8 two year olds, so we have about 47. All of the yearlings and two year olds are kept at pasture though so we have a few empty stalls. But those get filled with the mares that come for breeding.", he explained.

"Wow, where to begin?"

He started of showing here there stallions. The first was a 16 hand buckskin quarter horse. "This is Show Me The Details. We bought him a couple of years ago." The next was a gorgeous paint named Spot Me Tomorrow. The last was another quarter horse, this time sorrel, named Zips Fancy Asset. All three of the stallions were spotless and muscular.

"What do you do with them?" She asked in wonder. He knew that there ranch had a lot of reigning and western pleasure horses.

"They all do halter, showmanship, western pleasure, trail, hunter, and reigning. My dad likes to go for high point. But Fancy is the only one that's won in all of them at at least one point in time. None of them are to good in hunter, but my dad says that all of the champions are well rounded, so that's what he buys."

"Did you ever show any of them?"

"Not really, I stuck with my rodeo stuff. Here, I'll show you my barrel mare."

He finished with showing her the rest of the horses. All of the horse her top-of-the-line and treated like they where. When he finish showing here around they tacked up there horses, Ted with his mare Worth More Than Gold and Amy with Spindle. Goldie was absolutely beautiful in color, she picked up her stallions brindle coloring. Amy decided to go bareback, and they took off for the trails.

On the third night, Ted's parents left to go out for dinner. As they had every night they were siting together on the couch watching television. After a while the show became less and less important. And the next thing Amy knew they were making out. She had to admit that Ted was a great kisser. But she realized that was it. There was nothing else really there. It reminded her of the time Daniel had kissed her, it was great and all, but that was it. She really didn't feel anything deep for Ted. Yeah, she was attached to him and all, but she didn't love him at all. And she knew she never would. Just then she felt Ted try and pull up her shirt. She quickly pulled away.

"Ted!"

"What?"

"We've talked about this before. I don't want to do that yet."

"Just cause I was going to take your shirt off doesn't mean that we were going to have sex. And even if we were, I don't get what the problem is. Were both in collage, we've been dating for a year, and its not like I have an STD or something."

"I all ready explained it to you. If you don't understand that, then maybe we shouldn't be doing what were already doing."

"We would have to actually be doing something for you to do that, so good luck with that!"

That made Amy furious. "Oh really, then maybe we just shouldn't see each other anymore." She ran up the stairs to her room and started to cry. She grabbed the phone and called a car rental place. Luckily they had a horse trailer too. Amy had always promised herself that she wouldn't be one of those stupid girls who stayed in a relation ship built only on there physical relationship. She packed up all her clothes, made her bed, and when the rental dropped of the car and trailer and hour and a half latter, still crying, she went down stairs. Ted was there too.

"Your actually leaving?" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah." she said nodding her head quickly and then went to the door. "See you in class in the fall." Ted remained in the house and went upstairs. Quickly she loaded up the horses and all of her tack. Once she was on the road, she called Three Bars.

"This is Amy, do you think I could come a day early." By now she had her tears under control.

"Of corse! My wife's been dying to meet you!"

AN: I hope its not to bad. It should have been divided into two but then you would have had to wait even longer for the next part. Im open for critique! Im going to try and get another chapter out before Monday, and hopefully they'll start to get longer. I had to look through the Equine Chronicle to find some names for the stalions. You should goggle for Dunbars Gold. I've never seen a horse that color before, it looks really weird.


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